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They didn’t like what they saw.
On Feb. 3, Bob Missel and Alan Doll presented the plan to the Council hoping that North Bend would lend its support, but they didn’t bring a map to show the Council.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, County Supervisor and North Bend resident Ken Walter had a map to show the Council and 12 visitors in attendance.
The proposed route comes within a quarter mile of North Bend’s western edge, crosses Highway 79 about a half mile north of town, then angles further north to pass along the north side of Woodland Cemetery. From there the route gently angles south until settling about a quarter mile south of County Road S the rest of the way into Fremont.
In 2006, the U.S. 30 Panel completed a $130,000 study that involved all entities affected by a new Highway 30 route. The Panel voted to recommend what was called Alternative 8, a route that leaves the existing Highway 30 three miles west of North Bend and follows County Road S to Fremont.
Walter, who was elected to the County Board of Supervisors this past November, said when he went to his first County Board roads committee meeting, no one on that committee had a copy of the Hwy. 30 Panel’s study.
Even without North Bend’s approval, the County Board will present its plan in a meeting with the Nebraska Department of Roads.
Walter, who supports the original Alt. 8 plan, said he hopes to be included in that meeting.
“I am demanding that I go along with roads committee when they make their presentation to NDoR (so I can) support North Bend’s wishes to stay with the No. 8 alignment,” Walter said.
After a discussion with John Miyoshi of the Lower Platte Natural Recourse District, Walter said he is confident that Alt. 8 plan will carry more weight than the County’s plan. He said Miyoshi pointed out several flaws in the County’s proposal that won’t sit well with NDoR. Those flaws include:
• The proposal’s design to put the road a quarter mile off existing section roads, thereby interrupting a large chunk of farmland.
• The road crossing Highway 79 in what is now one of the lowest points in the area, one that serves as a drainage area.
• The likelihood of the road putting North Bend at increased flood risk.
“I think we’re at the point where finger pointing isn’t going to do us a lot of good,” Walter said. “I think we need to inform the Department of Roads that this plan is unacceptable.”
Councilman Al Wochnick expressed surprise that the County would take a plan to the state that does not have the approval of one the bodies most affected by the plan, North Bend.
“I do not feel that the residents of this community and the representatives of the city of North Bend have any way that we can trust the Dodge County Board of Supervisors,” Wochnick said.
Mayor Karan Legler said that if a North Bend representative is not allowed to attend the meeting between the County Board and the Department of Roads, North Bend will look to set up its own meeting with NDoR and possibly the governor.
“If we don’t get some solid news saying that they are moving (the bypass road) away from the city of North Bend,” Legler said, “we’re not going to let them come within our one-mile jurisdiction. There’s just no way.”
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